| NEW
ZEALAND
FO LK * SONG |
Dave
Jordan |
|---|
Gutboard Blues - Hills of Coromandel - Down Trou - Goodnight Ruby - Somewhat Under the Weather
|
 We
mourn the passing of Dave Jordan, who died on June 17, 2004, after several
years of suffering multiple sclerosis, which as he said, was "no disease
for sissies!"
Dave was born in Wellington in 1943 and during his childhood he had training in classical piano. He went to Teachers Training College in about 1960, taught for a short time, then in about 1964 went to Massey University. It was
there that he started writing songs, humorous social commentary for
Massey capping reviews, like Down Trou,
the State House Song and Gutboard
Blues, and performing them and other songs at the Nickoberg coffee-bar
in Palmerston North. It was at a university student arts festival
at Massey that he befriended a young woman and started what was to
be an enduring friendship. (Thanks to Tony Vercoe of Kiwi Records for verifying these details) London and marriage
He found success in London, writing songs for many people, including Ringo Starr and Demis Roussos, and producing albums other people's songs. One of the songs he wrote at this time that we have the words and tune of is Goodnight Ruby, a gentle, resigned, and achingly beautiful song of farewell and enduring love. To find inspiration (and warmth?) he spent every winter in Greece. He also spent some time songwriting in California. While in London, Dave also produced his own original album Away From Home. In 1979, he married a 26 year old from Brazil, but it was not a happy union. After the birth of their son in 1984, they returned to New Zealand where Dave got a nine to five job with an Auckland agency (Which one?) writing and producing TV and radio advertisements. Dunedin and old friends
Then his old friend from Massey student days, now working in Christchurch, went searching on Google to find where in the world he was. After finding his songs and his email address on this NZ Folksong website, she was surprised to find him in near-by Dunedin, and was soon in contact with him. She and her husband purchased a flat for Dave near their home in Christchurch, and they cared for him there for the last years of his life. Foreseeing the Future?
Was Jordan's unconscious mind foreseeing the acid-burnin stomach-churnin money-earnin London lifestyle? Yet despite the predictable downsides of life there, a gate that's open to nowhere, far from the old friends who knew him so well, there was always the certainty that the apple trees still bloom each year. Indeed, despite the wasting disease which took hold of him in 1996, his talent as a composer began to bloom once again, with the aid of a computer program. He began concentrating on digital compositions, and in June 2000 he released a new CD, Pacific Crossings. Then when he had shifted to Christchurch, Dave began putting words together again, starting with Somewhat Under the Weather, a parody of Somewhere over the Rainbow. They were the first song lyrics he had written for decades. With the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, Dave wrote Fly on the Wall, an angry outburst full of dark wordplay, about a Gulf War reporter. Then in complete contrast came Biology! a wonderful bouncy cheerful singalong song for concert performers. For more details about Dave, read Gordon Spittle's book, 'Counting The Beat'. Gutboard Blues - Hills of Coromandel - Down Trou - Goodnight Ruby - Somewhat Under the Weather |
